A young woman accused of severely beating her high school principal in 2021 when she was a minor is expected to plead guilty.

Laurette LeRouge, 19, of Mattapan, was just 16 when prosecutors say that she beat the principal of Dorchester’s Dr. William W. Henderson Inclusion School in 2021. Principal Patricia Lampron reportedly lost consciousness for several minutes and was put in a neck brace before being transported to Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Boston Municipal Court Judge Michael Coyne on Thursday declared LeRouge competent to stand trial based on a court clinician’s testimony. Coyne set a change-of-plea hearing for March 29.

Then-Boston Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius called the alleged Nov. 3, 2021, assault “disturbing and completely unacceptable.”

LeRouge was arrested on scene and was arraigned the next day at Dorchester Juvenile Court on charges of assault and battery on a person over 60, assault and battery causing serious injury and two counts of assault and battery on a public employee. She was released to her mother on $5,000 bail.

While juvenile proceedings are normally closed to the public, prosecutors opted to charge LeRouge as a “youthful offender” when she was indicted in August 2022. This status gives prosecutors more flexibility in charging older minors for serious offenses by allowing juvenile, adult or combination sentences, according to the state Department of Youth Services. It also opened up proceedings to the public.

A person liable for a youthful offender status must be between 14 and 17 years old, charged with a felony and must have met one of the following categories, according to the DYS: has had a previous DYS commitment, “committed a certain firearms offense” or be charged with an offense of “infliction or threat of serious bodily harm.”

This is a developing story.